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F.C. Gundlach

Vita

Vita

F.C. Gundlach (*1926 in Heinebach) is considered the most significant fashion photographer of the young Federal Republic of Germany.

Working for high-circulation magazines such as Film und Frau (1952-1966) and Brigitte (1963-1986) he set the stage for the ever-changing vogues of fashion and thus reflected the ideals of self and beauty. Gundlach’s oeuvre covers fashion from the optimistic postwar years to the beginning of postmodernism, from Paris Haute Couture to Prêt-à-Porter, and from Berlin Chic to the colorful designs of the 1980s.

Coming from a background of reportage photography he became a fashion photographer in the mid 1950. While photographing fashion collections on location all over the world, reportage and especially portrait have always been part of his photographic spectrum.

Since the 1960s, F.C. Gundlach has also been a collector of photographic art, a curator and a teacher. In 2000, F.C. Gundlach committed his extensive photographic collection and his own oeuvre to the F.C. Gundlach Foundation. In 2003 he was appointed founding director of the House of Photography by the Senate of Hamburg.

The photographic work of F.C. Gundlach has been exhibited since 1951 (Librairie Jean Robert in St. German des Prés) and continues to be. The exhibition ModeWelten, traveling from 1986 to 1990 could be seen in the Rheinische Landesmuseum Bonn, the Neue Galerie Kassel, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, the Neue Galerie des Joanneums Graz, the Goethe-Instituten Paris and Rotterdam and many other locations.

The current exhibition F.C. Gundlach – The photographic Work has been very successful in the House of Photography Hamburg (2008), the Martin-

Gropius-Bau Berlin (2009/10) and the Neues Museum Nürnberg (2011).

*F.C. Gundlach, Pforzheim 2011, Foto: Sebastian Seibel

Exhibitions

Eminent Fashion, Riga Art Space, Latvia, 2012

The Middle East in the 50s and 60s, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut, Lebanon, 2011

Awards / Grants

F. C. Gundlach was appointed to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh) in 1972 and voted on to the Board of Directors in 1976, where he remained until 1996. The society awarded him its badge of honour in 1996 and the DGPh Kulturpreis in 2001.

In 1976, he was appointed to the Board of the Bund Freischaffender Foto-Designer (BFF) and has been an honorary member of the association since 1988.

In 1997, F. C. Gundlach was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 1998, he received the golden George Eastman-Medaille for exceptional services to German photography.

The Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg distinguished him with an honorary professorship in 2000 for his photographic work. In the same year he

was appointed to the Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg.

From 2000 to 2003 he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Deutsches Centrum für Photographie.

In 2006, he was awarded the Medal für Kunst und Wissenschaft by the Hamburg Senate for his diverse and unwavering commitment to photography in Hamburg.

Honorary citizenship in the municipality of Alheim (his birthplace Heinebach now forms part of Alheim) was awarded to him on 30 October 2008.